This being a very long tread if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful. For those who think NCC-1701-A was a new ship, how can we explain her decommissioning only after eight years? This is one critical fact that makes me doubt she was a new ship...

Click to expand...

My guess is that the Excelsior finally proved herself and the 1701-A may have been part of of a batch of ships that were started then left unfinished or the A may have been a final ship but left unfinished due to the Excelsior. When Kirk and company returned and saved Earth the ship was quickly finished and rushed into service to give to Kirk. This quick rush job may explain the multiple "bugs" and the Excelsior may explain the early decommissioning.

It was mentioned in several places such as "Mr. Scott's guide to the Enterprise" that the 1701-A was originally the Yorktown (or Tiho?) and was renamed Enterprise to reward Kirk for saving the Federation once again.

This is from Memory Alpha:

According to Gene Roddenberry, the NCC-1701-A was not a newly-constructed ship, but instead was the renamed USS Yorktown, a nod to the name of the starship in his original pitch for Star Trek. This was based on the fact that it was difficult to believe that Starfleet would build a whole new ship in such a short time, and then decommission it a short while after, and the early retirement of the Enterprise-A could be justified if the ship had been in service for many years under another name. Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, released shortly after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, cites the origin of NCC-1701-A as the USS Ti-Ho (NCC-1798), an Enterprise-class starship which was a test bed for transwarp technology alongside the USS Excelsior. The Ti-Ho was rechristened Enterprise after Kirk and his crew were exonerated.

That does sort of make the most sense - I always did think - for many many years that it was another ship - maybe one that was just refit ala the original 1701 and was waiting for a crew - but after Kirk did his thing they figured - y'know we ARE kind of down an Enterprise. So during the Trial they had someone head out and rename it Enterprise 1701-A -

Although, and I may be in the minority, they always intended to replace the Enterprise that Kirk had stolen and blown up with this one - which was one of the reasons why the original 1701 was meant to go back to be de-commissioned - because this bird was going to replace it as the 'standard bearer' since maybe it was cheaper to maintain the Yorktown-1701-A than keep bandaging and repairing the original 1701. When it came time for the 1701-A to be decommissioned, it was probably because the Excelsior was doing decently enough and the Enterprise-B was slated to be it's successor.

When the Probe is wreaking havoc in TVH, the Yorktown is one of the ships that is disabled along the way. My own personal theory is that it was in the middle of a refit, out on a shakedown or test cruise, and was damaged badly enough by the Probe to require extensive repair afterward. Instead of scrapping it, they slap on a new name and registry number and pass it off to Captain Kirk, making it his problem.

Also remember that ST6 marked the sudden end of the Klingon conflict. Starfleet might not quite believe in "peace" yet, but it would have a good opportunity here to scale down its massive investment in a warfleet; lots of older and less spaceworthy ships would be retired en masse, and the funds required for operating them would see better use.

...Such as building of more modern ships. But a generation change in starship design would be more a gradual thing, and it would probably take decades to have the Excelsiors start replacing anything. End-of-conflict retirement would be more sudden. And the E-A would be a prime recipient:

1) Older type
2) In need of at least some repair
3) Noted symbol of the past conflict - an excellent pawn to sacrifice in a symbolic gesture
4) Possible result of multiple refits, meaning a bit of modernization but also a lot of compromising (or then indeed a rush job to give Kirk a symbolic reward at lowest possible cost)

It was mentioned in several places such as "Mr. Scott's guide to the Enterprise" that the 1701-A was originally the Yorktown (or Tiho?) and was renamed Enterprise to reward Kirk for saving the Federation once again.

This is from Memory Alpha:

According to Gene Roddenberry, the NCC-1701-A was not a newly-constructed ship, but instead was the renamed USS Yorktown, a nod to the name of the starship in his original pitch for Star Trek. This was based on the fact that it was difficult to believe that Starfleet would build a whole new ship in such a short time, and then decommission it a short while after, and the early retirement of the Enterprise-A could be justified if the ship had been in service for many years under another name. Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, released shortly after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, cites the origin of NCC-1701-A as the USS Ti-Ho (NCC-1798), an Enterprise-class starship which was a test bed for transwarp technology alongside the USS Excelsior. The Ti-Ho was rechristened Enterprise after Kirk and his crew were exonerated.

This being a very long tread if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful. For those who think NCC-1701-A was a new ship, how can we explain her decommissioning only after eight years? This is one critical fact that makes me doubt she was a new ship...

Click to expand...

In the final battle sequence of STVI, the Enterprise takes a serious pounding from Chang's BOP. It's beaten to the point of collapsed shields, and a torpedo punches a hole completely through the primary hull. Maybe the Starfleet engineers did a cost-benefit analysis and, coupled with Kirk retiring, decided "Just scrap it and go with the Excelsior class!"

The Enterprise NX-01 took a far worse pounding during season 3 of Star Trek: Enterprise - yet was still spaceworthy 100 yeats later in "E2". Then the "real" one was inexplicably decommisioned after only ten years in "These Are the Voyages"

The Enterprise NX-01 took a far worse pounding during season 3 of Star Trek: Enterprise - yet was still spaceworthy 100 yeats later in "E2". Then the "real" one was inexplicably decommisioned after only ten years in "These Are the Voyages"

Trek writers don't always think things through.

Click to expand...

I don't know what E2 is -- is it canon?

It would make sense that the NX-01 was decommissioned so quickly, since it probably wore out much quicker than 23rd century starships.

The Enterprise NX-01 took a far worse pounding during season 3 of Star Trek: Enterprise - yet was still spaceworthy 100 yeats later in "E2". Then the "real" one was inexplicably decommisioned after only ten years in "These Are the Voyages"

Trek writers don't always think things through.

Click to expand...

I believe in "E2," that alternate NX-01 was converted by necessity into a generation ship while the real one wasn't.

I think there's some more interesting info on this in Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories; the intention was to move everyone onto the Excelsior and continue like that.

Harve Bennett wanted to do this and that's why GR leaked the destruction of the Big E in TSFS. GR's perception was that HB was coming into Star Trek and whittling away at the core elements of what GR had previously created, he'd do this by transplanting the crew onto the Excelsior. According to Shatner's book, GR worked with bombers in WW2 and had an attachment to the equipment, HB was involved with choppers by all accounts and wasn't especially fussed about whether it was this one, or that one, this explains the demise of the Enterprise and GR's frustration with HB. All quite convenient from TSFS onwards as the Excelsior scenes for Sulu in TWOK were cut. I liked the idea of the Excelsior being the new Enterprise, the Enterprise was already a training ship in TWOK so it would have made sense to simply move the crew on.

So the Big E was reprieved by fan power in part as I understand it, they found another ship to re-name at the end of TVH and the Excelsior didn't make another appearance until TUC when all was restored for the Sulu character.

Harve Bennett wanted to do this and that's why GR leaked the destruction of the Big E in TSFS. GR's perception was that HB was coming into Star Trek and whittling away at the core elements of what GR had previously created, he'd do this by transplanting the crew onto the Excelsior.

Click to expand...

As much as I love the Enterprise (I have one on my beside table), they should've moved the crew onto the Excelsior.

Funny that it ended up being Rick Berman that ended up doing exactly what Roddenberry feared Bennett would do by blowing up the Enterprise and replacing it with a warship then killing off two of Trek's most iconic characters (Kirk, Data).

Harve Bennett wanted to do this and that's why GR leaked the destruction of the Big E in TSFS. GR's perception was that HB was coming into Star Trek and whittling away at the core elements of what GR had previously created, he'd do this by transplanting the crew onto the Excelsior.

Click to expand...

As much as I love the Enterprise (I have one on my beside table), they should've moved the crew onto the Excelsior.

Funny that it ended up being Rick Berman that ended up doing exactly what Roddenberry feared Bennett would do by blowing up the Enterprise and replacing it with a warship then killing off two of Trek's most iconic characters (Kirk, Data).

Click to expand...

I'm going back in time here but wasn't there a comic series out in about 1984/5 where Kirk and the crew are aboard the Excelsior after TSFS - I'm sure of this?

I agree about moving them on, if Kirk was the best Captain and who Starfleet send out for the tricky stuff, it makes sense he should have had access to the most powerful ship in the fleet, I think this sort of thinking was clear in the way Bennett approached the character of Kirk initially - Trek under Bennett was an altogether more military centric proposition.

I'm going back in time here but wasn't there a comic series out in about 1984/5 where Kirk and the crew are aboard the Excelsior after TSFS - I'm sure of this!

Click to expand...

DC Comics #9-36, first run set between The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. Kirk commanded the Excelsior while Spock was Captain of the Science Vessel Surak. Spock was returned to his state at the end of Search and his entire crew was killed and ship dumped into a star during "The Doomsday Bug" (#34-36).

I'm going back in time here but wasn't there a comic series out in about 1984/5 where Kirk and the crew are aboard the Excelsior after TSFS - I'm sure of this!

Click to expand...

DC Comics #9-36, first run set between The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. Kirk commanded the Excelsior while Spock was Captain of the Science Vessel Surak. Spock was returned to his state at the end of Search and his entire crew was killed and ship dumped into a star during "The Doomsday Bug" (#34-36).

Harve Bennett wanted to do this and that's why GR leaked the destruction of the Big E in TSFS.

Click to expand...

Mmmm. GR definitely leaked Spock's death during the making of ST II. He had Susan Sackett announce it at a London convention. It made Meyer and Bennett add the Kobayashi Maru Scenario fake deaths to the beginning of ST II - and decades later Bennett thanked Sackett in a "Starlog" interview for forcing them to make ST II's script stronger.

But I don't recall it being GR who leaked the destruction of the Enterprise in ST III. I thought that was done by the division of Paramount who are responsible for making the publicity trailers: we see Enterprise being destroyed in the trailer. "The last journey of the starship Enterprise." Trailers are made by a separate group at Paramount and the producer and director didn't get a say in how the film was to be presented in trailers.

he'd do this by transplanting the crew onto the Excelsior.

Click to expand...

IIRC, this was being pushed by the guys who had to use and film the TMP Enterprise model, which was tricky to move around, mount, light and film. The Excelsior model, although bigger in scale in the movie, was very light and only half the size of the Enterprise model in real life.

Harve Bennett wanted to do this and that's why GR leaked the destruction of the Big E in TSFS.

Click to expand...

Mmmm. GR definitely leaked Spock's death during the making of ST II. He had Susan Sackett announce it at a London convention. It made Meyer and Bennett add the Kobayashi Maru Scenario fake deaths to the beginning of ST II - and decades later Bennett thanked Sackett in a "Starlog" interview for forcing them to make ST II's script stronger.

But I don't recall it being GR who leaked the destruction of the Enterprise in ST III. I thought that was done by the division of Paramount who are responsible for making the publicity trailers: we see Enterprise being destroyed in the trailer. "The last journey of the starship Enterprise." Trailers are made by a separate group at Paramount and the producer and director didn't get a say in how the film was to be presented in trailers.

he'd do this by transplanting the crew onto the Excelsior.

Click to expand...

IIRC, this was being pushed by the guys who had to use and film the TMP Enterprise model, which was tricky to move around, mount, light and film. The Excelsior model, although bigger in scale in the movie, was very light and only half the size of the Enterprise model in real life.

Click to expand...

Who knows? My points come from Shatner's Movie Memories, the security on TSFS was very tight and the Big E's destruction got out before the trailer ever hit the screens prompting Nimoy to conclude it was GR.